Modular Genetics Inc. Strikes Deal With Monsanto
genes that could bolster crop yields, improve nutritional content, or make food crops more disease resistant can now be more easily identified and developed because of a breakthrough technology developed by Modular Genetics Inc. (MGI). MGI recently struck a three-year collaborative deal with Monsanto to apply MGI's technology to agriculture. The patented technology, known as a protein optimization platform, assembles and screens proteins that have promising agricultural traits.
The deal marks a huge step forward for MGI, a company that has been growing for the past four years with the help of Boston University's Technology Development Fund. According to Terence Brennan, who heads up life science investing for the fund, TDF led the last round of financing for MGI in May 2004.
MGI co-founders, Kevin Jarrell, a former BU faculty member, and Temple Smith, a professor of biomedical engineering in BU's College of Engineering, developed the company's technology. Fundamentally a system for building and modifying genes by selecting and linking together segments of DNA, MGI's high-throughput gene-engineering platform cuts the time needed to identify useful protein products. The technology provides a big advantage to researchers who seek to discover genes that help produce new crops, drugs, or other products.
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